In this episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron sits down with renowned leadership expert and bestselling author Patrick Lencioni to explore his groundbreaking framework, The Six Types of Working Genius.

Lencioni—best known for The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and his work on organizational health—shares how the Working Genius model helps leaders and teams understand the kinds of work that energize them and the tasks that drain them. When teams gain a shared language for how people are wired to contribute, collaboration improves, frustration decreases, and culture becomes healthier.

Patrick explains the six types of work required in every project—Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, and Tenacity—and how each person typically excels in two of these areas. By identifying these strengths, leaders can build more balanced teams, place people in roles where they thrive, and reduce unnecessary guilt and judgment in the workplace.

Throughout the conversation, Catron and Lencioni discuss:

• Why organizational health is more important than strategy alone
• How the Working Genius framework improves team communication
• Why many leaders unintentionally place people in the wrong roles
• How shared language around strengths transforms team culture
• Practical ways leaders can use the model to hire, develop, and align teams

Whether you’re new to the Working Genius assessment or already using leadership tools like DISC, Myers-Briggs, or the Enneagram, this conversation will help you rethink how work gets done—and how understanding your team’s natural gifts can unlock greater engagement, productivity, and purpose.

If you want to build a healthier culture, lead people more effectively, and help your team do their best work, this episode is a must-listen.

Take the assessment here with 20% off. 

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In this special anniversary episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron celebrates one year of Culture Matters, her USA Today bestselling book on building healthy organizational culture. If you’re a leader looking for practical tools to strengthen your team culture, improve workplace alignment, and create a clear culture strategy, this episode is for you.

Jenni revisits the core principles of the Lead Culture Framework—a five-phase leadership framework designed to help leaders assess their current culture, define their desired culture, build a strategic culture plan, equip their teams, and commit to ongoing culture development. Leaders across industries are using this proven model as a step-by-step “how-to” guide for building high-performing teams and closing culture gaps before they turn into crises.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why organizational culture requires proactive leadership—not crisis management
• How to assess gaps in your workplace culture with clarity and confidence
• The five essential phases of a sustainable culture strategy
• How to create alignment around values, beliefs, and behaviors
• Why culture conversations feel vulnerable—and how to lead them well
• Practical steps to start building a thriving team culture today

Whether you’re leading a small team, a growing organization, or an established company navigating change, this episode will equip you with actionable leadership tools to strengthen team alignment, boost engagement, and create a healthy, high-performing culture.

If culture work has been sitting on your back burner, this conversation will challenge and inspire you to take the first step—because your leadership shapes everything, and culture truly matters.

Learn more about CultureMattersBook.com

Get the LeadCulture Course Anniversary Sale Here.

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AI isn’t just a tech conversation—it’s a leadership conversation.

In this episode, Jenni welcomes AI strategist Jackie Celske for a timely discussion on leading with wisdom, clarity, and conviction in a rapidly evolving digital world. As AI moves from novelty to necessity, leaders are faced with real questions: How do we reduce fear? How do we protect our culture? How do we ensure innovation makes us more human—not less?

Jackie shares practical insights on AI training, governance, team readiness, and the widening talent gap—along with a powerful reminder that empathy, discernment, and emotional intelligence are still our greatest leadership assets.

This episode will challenge you to think beyond cost-cutting and instead ask: How can we steward this technology in a way that strengthens people and builds thriving teams?

Learn more about Jackie here.

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Culture doesn’t break down because leaders lack effort or good intentions—it breaks down when there’s a gap between how leaders show up and how teams experience that leadership.

In this episode, Jenni Catron builds on last week’s conversation about the Clarity Cascade—mission, vision, strategy, and structure—and takes it one level deeper. The focus shifts from who is on the team to how well leaders are equipping people to fully engage once clarity is in place.

Jenni unpacks why self-awareness is one of the strongest predictors of leadership success and how emotional intelligence directly shapes organizational culture. Drawing on research, real-world leadership experience, and the LeadCulture Framework, she explains why competence alone isn’t enough—and why leaders must develop both self-awareness and others’ awareness to build healthy, high-trust teams.

You’ll also hear why tools like personality assessments and Patrick Lencioni’s Working Genius can be powerful culture-shaping resources when used well—not as labels, but as shared language that improves collaboration, alignment, and momentum.

If you’ve clarified roles, strategy, and structure but still feel like your team is getting stuck, this episode will help you identify what might be missing—and how growing emotional intelligence can unlock the next level of effectiveness.

This conversation sets the stage for Jenni’s upcoming webinar with Patrick Lencioni, where they’ll dive deeper into how Working Genius strengthens teams and accelerates culture health.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

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You’ve done the work.
You cast the vision.
You built the strategy.

So why does execution still feel slow, stalled, or stuck?

In this episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni Catron unpacks a challenge leaders face every year—especially as they move from strategic planning into real-world execution. Teams aren’t failing because they don’t care. They’re struggling because clarity is breaking down in the system.

Jenni introduces a powerful framework she calls The Clarity Cascade, showing how results depend on more than just a strong strategy. You’ll learn how mission, vision, strategy, structure, and role clarity must intentionally cascade together to create momentum—and why most leaders stop one step too soon.

This episode will help you:

• Identify why your team feels busy but isn’t making progress
• Understand how organizational structure either fuels or blocks execution
• See why misaligned org charts create confusion, frustration, and disengagement
• Clarify roles and responsibilities so every team member can confidently contribute
• Audit your structure to ensure it actually supports your strategy

If your 2026 goals feel solid but results aren’t showing up yet, this conversation will help you uncover the invisible barriers holding your team back—and give you practical next steps to realign for impact.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

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What if building a great culture isn’t about perks, personalities, or one big initiative—but about the small, intentional choices leaders make every single day?

In this episode of the LeadCulture Podcast, Jenni Catron sits down with Anthony Lambatos, President of Footers Catering & Events and founder of MIBE (Make It Better Every Day), to unpack what it really takes to create a workplace where people thrive—and why culture must be treated as a daily discipline, not a one-time project.

Anthony shares the behind-the-scenes story of transforming Footers from a high-stress, old-school hospitality environment into one of the most recognized “Best Places to Work” in Colorado. Along the way, he reveals the pivotal mindset shift that changed everything: realizing his job wasn’t just to run events—it was to create an environment where people could do their best work and grow as humans.

Together, Jenni and Anthony explore:

• Why serving your people first leads to better results for customers, clients, and the bottom line
• How leaders unintentionally stall culture by hoping it will “stick” without ongoing focus
• The four convictions that shaped Footers’ culture—and how they show up in real, practical ways
• Why language, onboarding, and everyday behaviors matter more than perks or benefits
• How leaders at every level can (and must) take ownership of protecting the culture

If you’re a leader who feels the gap between the culture you want and the one you’re currently experiencing, this conversation offers both clarity and hope. You don’t need a complete overhaul—you need one intentional step forward.

Because great cultures aren’t built overnight. They’re built when leaders commit to making it better every day.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

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Trust is at the center of everything leaders want—but in today’s skeptical, information-saturated world, trust is harder to earn than ever.

In this episode of the LeadCulture Podcast, Jenni Catron sits down with financial coach, business owner, and speaker MJ Pittman for a timely conversation on what he calls the trust recession—and why it places an even greater responsibility on leaders. Together, they unpack why likability isn’t the same as trust, how predictability creates psychological safety, and what leaders often overlook when they assume trust should already exist.

MJ brings a fresh lens by blending financial principles with leadership realities, offering practical frameworks leaders can actually apply. From understanding why trust is rooted in safety—not charisma—to exploring the five questions every person is subconsciously asking before they trust a leader, this conversation challenges leaders to rethink how trust is built, sustained, and repaired.

If you’re leading in uncertain times, navigating team skepticism, or wondering why clarity and consistency matter more than ever, this episode will give you language, insight, and actionable next steps to lead with greater credibility and confidence.

Key takeaways include:

• Why we’re experiencing a “trust recession” in organizations
• The difference between likability and trust—and why it matters
• How predictability builds safety in both calm and stressful seasons
• The five questions people ask before they trust a leader
• Why trust is a learnable leadership skill—not a personality trait

This is a must-listen for leaders who want to strengthen culture, deepen influence, and lead in a way that earns trust over time—not just goodwill in the moment.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

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In this episode, Jenni Catron explores five leadership and culture trends shaping 2026 and what they mean for leaders in organizations of every size. She begins with a conviction that development is now a non-negotiable—for employers investing in their people as a core retention strategy and for employees staying competitive in a rapidly evolving workplace. Jenni also addresses the growing need for human-AI synergy, helping leaders discern where AI can accelerate results and where cultures must double down on the uniquely human elements of work.

From shifting dynamics in the job market to the competitive advantage of healthy, fully integrated culture plans, Jenni offers practical insight drawn from current research, reading, and real conversations with the leaders she serves nationwide. You’ll walk away with perspective to start the year fresh, evaluate your own development plan, and take concrete steps using the LeadCulture Framework as a true “culture operating system” that aligns expectations, processes, and daily employee experience. Jenni closes with encouragement for 2026 and her word for the year—Believe—inviting leaders to dream bigger and build environments where teams can grow, thrive, and be unstoppable.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

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We’ve gathered some of the best moments from our live LeadCulture Network trainings and compiled them into this episode—giving you an exclusive look at what it means to lead with clarity, build unstoppable teams, and create a culture that thrives.

In this episode, you’ll hear highlights from sessions that tackle the real challenges leaders face every day:

• Clarity vs. Confusion: How small gaps in role definition, priorities, or expectations quietly erode culture—and what you can do to stop it.
• The Unseen Work of Culture: Why building high-performing teams isn’t about flashy strategies—it’s about the unglamorous, consistent work of modeling values, equipping managers, and owning your influence.
• Leading Through Transitions: Real-life lessons on managing team changes, handling leadership misalignment, and turning setbacks into culture-strengthening opportunities.
• Engagement That Lasts: Practical ways to build trust, empower your team, and create an environment where engagement—and results—follow naturally.
• Remote & Hybrid Teams: Strategies to keep your culture alive and thriving, no matter where your team works.

This episode is more than a compilation—it’s a crash course in actionable insights that you can start applying immediately. If you’ve ever wished for a behind-the-scenes look at high-impact leadership, this is it.

Last Chance: The LeadCulture Network is closing enrollment for founding members on December 31. Don’t miss your opportunity to access monthly live trainings, Q&As, video teachings from Jenni, and 6 months of support from a dedicated LeadCulture Coach. Join now and equip your team to grow, thrive, and be unstoppable in 2026.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

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In this week’s episode of the Lead Culture Podcast, Jenni sits down with Peter Ostapko—founder of Kinsman and publisher of Kinsman Journal—to explore the unexpected paths that shape our leadership journeys. Peter shares the formative moments that sparked his vision, from an early encounter with leadership thought-leader Tim Elmore to a decade spent “successfully drowning” in work that looked great on paper but left him searching for meaning.

Together, Jenni and Peter unpack the tension leaders feel when they know they’re capable, but not yet aligned with their calling. They talk honestly about comparison, courage, identity, and the slow, faithful work of discovering what you’re made to do. Peter brings refreshing transparency about leaving a stable banking career to launch a mission-driven publication—not because it was easy, but because it was right.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re “behind,” questioned your purpose, or felt the pull toward something more meaningful, this conversation will meet you where you are. Peter’s story is a reminder that leadership is less about having it all figured out and more about paying attention, staying curious, and taking the next faithful step.

Tune in for a grounded, inspiring look at calling, entrepreneurship, and the kind of leadership that grows over decades—not overnight.

We need your help to get the LeadCulture podcasts in front of more leaders! There are three simple things you can do that truly help us:

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